Tech Briefs

Published 10:00 pm, Monday, July 7, 2003

NORTHWEST

WRQ lays off 30, mostly in Seattle

WRQ Inc. recently laid off 30 employees as part of a corporate restructuring.

The Seattle company, which helps corporations access data in mainframe computers, now employs about 400 worldwide. Most of the cuts occurred in Seattle, with fewer than 10 positions eliminated in Europe, said spokeswoman Susanne Smith. Employees, who received severance packages, were laid off during the week of June 23.

Prior to the reorganization, WRQ employed separate product and marketing teams for its two products: Verastream and Reflection. Under the new structure, WRQ will support both products through one organization, Smith said. In October 2000, the company employed 740 people.

Latest business videos

Boeing's online spectrum OK'd

Connexion by Boeing, The Boeing Co.'s initiative to bring high-speed Internet connections to airplane passengers, received a boost yesterday when the International Telecommunications Union approved the initiative's spectrum allocation. The initiative had been operating under an experimental license pending the approval.

Every country over which a Connexion-equipped plane flies must give its individual permission to use the spectrum, said initiative spokesman Terrance Scott. But the international body's July 4 ruling will be highly influential on those governments, he said.

Connexion wants to have its system installed in between 4,600 and 4,800 commercial aircraft worldwide by 2014. It plans to have between 50 and 70 systems installed by the end of 2004, in line with its 10-year plan, Scott said.

Snippets . . .

CNN, a division of
Turner Broadcasting System Inc.
, will use live video-compression technology from Seattle's
Streambox Inc.
, the companies said. ... Seattle-based
Loudeye Corp.
experienced a 55 percent increase in music sample deliveries in the first half of the year, delivering 6.5 million files through Amazon.com, Yahoo!, barnesandnoble.com and other sites.

NATIONAL

Telemarketing-ban registry extended

Starting yesterday, consumers living east of the Mississippi River could fight back against telemarketing calls by making a call of their own to the national do-not-call list. The registry has accepted Internet registrations nationwide and phone sign-ups in Western states since the free service became available June 27. People had registered nearly 17 million phone numbers by Thursday, the last day for which figures were available from the Federal Trade Commission.

The toll-free number -- 888-382-1222 -- was rolled out in stages to ensure the system could handle the volume of calls. Callers to the number must use the phone they want registered. People who sign up this summer should see a decrease in telemarketing calls after the FTC begins enforcing the list Oct. 1.